He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

S’more Chapter Three! It SUCH a great chapter!

Let’s jump right in the fire…hee hee

So, King Nebby made this idol and wanted everyone to bow down and worship it at his command. Uh, that’s a negative for the Hebrew boys.

I’m not sure where Daniel is, but he was probably at a different province and just wasn’t around for the campfire. I’m thinking he heard the whole thing from his buddies and thought it would make a good piece for his book. I’m just spitballin’ here.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow down. Nope. Not ever. No way.

Our hot head, King Nebby gets blazing mad and says, “…if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand.”

That last sentence makes me smile a little bit, only because I know what’s coming. Not so sure the boys were smiling.’

Ahem

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to him, “O Nebby,” (they didn’t say Nebby,) “we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But, even if he does not, we want you to now, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Dude

That’s amazing.

They knew that if they went into the fire and God didn’t save them, they would win either way.

Where does that kind of faith come from? Would I willingly go into a giant chiminea for Christ? Oh, God, I pray, yes.

These guys had faith in the fact that God could save them, not that he would.

Where does that come from?

I believe it comes from having a deeper faith in God’s sovereignty which comes from a deeper faith in God’s love. To be able to trust God with that intensity has to come from a safe place within. A faith in God’s relentless love.

We must be convinced of His love to trust in His sovereignty.

I John 3:1 “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us…”

This is how we can eliminate the “why” in the fiery times. Not that that’s easy, but it is possible through the transforming power of His love.

They had hope in Christ. They had confident expectation for the outcome as they entered the fire.

Do we? Do we trust with that intensity because we are convinced of His love?

Let us be so, because this will be our hope in our own fires.

“…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:3-5

His great love give us great hope, great expectation that he will not disappoint us in the fire.